Category: Philadelphia

Black Friday Name Origin Joseph P. Barrett originally was published Nov. 25, 2015. The men responsible for naming the day, Joe Barrett and Nate Kleger were co-workers and friends of William Lawrence Sr. who provides us with our Omnibits and Cryptowits.

Joseph P. Barrett, the man who gave us “Black Friday”.

Black Friday, in reference to the day after Thanksgiving, was first used in a 1951 article in the trade publication Factory Management and Maintenance” and concerned the habit of employees calling in sick the day after the holiday to get a four-day weekend.

The article by M. J. Murphy recommended just making the day a paid holiday.

However, the term’s use as a day of shopping chaos has a Philadelphia root, the popularization of which can be squarely placed on the shoulders of Joseph P. Barrett and Nathan Kleger, who were police reporters with the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.

Philadelphia traffic squad cops had been using the phrase to describe the massive Center City traffic jams that occurred the day after Thanksgiving. Kleger and Barrett wrote a front-page piece circa 1960 in which they appropriated the phrase. The paper in ensuing years continued with the phrase and local TV soon joined.

Section II covers jurisdictions with recorded declined detainers between Jan. 28 and Feb. 3. Section III is a table of jurisdictions that have enacted policies that limit cooperation with ICE.

Delco is in Section III as being a jurisdiction that “will not hold individuals solely based on an ICE detainer.” However,”arrangements may be made for ‘in person’ review of the policy”. This has been the policy since August 2014 says ICE.

Chesco, Montco, Bucks and, of course, Philadelphia are also listed

Chesco is in Section III as “will not hold individuals solely based on an ICE detainer” but “will allow ICE agents access to the daily populations reports and other records for investigative purposes”. This has been policy since May 2014.

Bucks is in Section III as “will not hold individuals solely based on an ICE detainer but will notify ICE via email of a pending release from custody.” This has been policy since April 2014.

Montco is in Section III as “will not honor ICE detainer”; “will not accept anyone brought to it solely on an ICE detainer: and “has daily contact with ICE”. This has been policy since April 2014

Philly “will honor ICE detainer where the alien has a prior conviction for a first or second degree felony offense involving violence and the detainer is accompanied by a judicial arrest warrant.” Even more damningly, Philly “prohibits notice to ICE of the pending release of subjects of interest to ICE unless the above criteria is met.”

Section II lists Chester County as declining a detainer on Feb. 3 for an El Salvadorian sought for a probation violation; and Philadelphia as declining detainers on Feb. 1 for a Jamaican wanted for homicide and on Feb. 3 for a Dominican wanted for selling heroin.

Seth Williams Third Term Dream Ends — Philly D.A. Seth Williams announced this morning (Feb. 10) that he won’t seek a third term.

Seth Williams

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics, last month, fined him $62,000 — its largest fine ever — for violations, including failing to disclose gifts and income, and accepting gifts from prohibited sources.

Williams cited the action as the reason for making this his last term.

“I have made regrettable mistakes in my personal life and personal financial life that cast an unnecessary shadow,” he said.

Williams, who is the city’s first black District Attorney, was known for his willingness to ignore Democrat taboos. He brought down long-protected serial killer abortionist Kermit Gosnell and he refused to let Pennsylvania’s dirty Attorney General Kathleen Kane cry racism to escape her wrongdoing.

You might think the Republicans would snag Williams off the waiver wire and give him a shot at a comeback but don’t expect that. The Republican leadership shares the same clubhouse with the Democrat limo libs.

Fattah, a Democrat, represented from 1995 until June 23 Pennsylvania’s 2nd District. This consists of large swaths of Philly along with Lower Merion in Montco.

U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III called Fattah actions “astonishing” which frankly deserves an LOL. Still, the sentence he passed might be the longest ever imposed on a member of Congress for federal corruption crimes so kudos for being astonished.

Fattah got a $174,000 congressional salary and associated perks, along with his bribes.

Josh Shapiro (Democrat), the political boss of Montgomery County and Pennsylvania’s next attorney general, is counsel at Stradley Ronon.

Val DiGiorgio (Republican), the political boss of Chester County and among the leading candidates for chairman of the state Republican Party, runs Stradley Ronon’s banking and public finance sections. He includes Government and Public Affairs as part of his “focus”.

No matter how many 10-year sentences our hacks get, Pennsylvania will never be clean until places like Stradley Ronon are sent to the dustbin.

Uber Banned Again Now That Dems Are Gone — An agreement reached, July 7, between the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which oversees limos and taxis in the city, and transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, ends tomorrow, Sept. 30, once again making the popular services illegal in the city.

Among those found guilty with him was Herbert Vederman, a long-time Democrat man of influence who is still listed at ZoomInfo.com as senior consultant for the Government and Public Affairs Group at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, a Philadelphia law firm.

Val DiGiorgio

Think he knew Val DiGiorgio? Val is the Chester County Republican Party chairman who chairs Stradley Ronon’s banking and public finance sections and includes Government and Public Affairs as part of his “focus”.

Mayor Kenney Defends Islam — Mayor Jim Kenney held a press conference yesterday, Jan. 8, in which he declared in the manner for which progressive-types have become famous that the attempted murder of Philadelphia policeman Jesse Hartnett, the day before had nothing to do with Islam.

“In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what you’ve seen on the screen,” Kenney said.

The assailant, Edward Archer, 30, of Yeadon, disagreed most strenuously.

He told police he did it in “the name of Islam”.

“I follow Allah,” he said. “I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State, and that’s why I did what I did.”

Gee Mayor, what if Archer had said he did it because he was a Mummer? Would you then take him at his word?

Words mean things. There is a reason why the violence in the world overwhelmingly involves the Islamic faith. By their fruit you shall know them. The Koran is a document that purports to be from God and gives not just license but command to violence including murder and rape.

Hence we are obliged, at the minimum, to use words to oppose this. Denying the violence inherent in the sect — much less actually making excuses for it as the self-proclaimed progressives are inclined — is absolutely the worst thing to do.

James Bond Actors Include Names You Might Not Consider William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 12-29-15

Can you name all the actors who played James Bond in movies? Try. Betcha forget David Niven who had the role in the 1967 version of Casino Royale, which strangely enough, was made as a comedy. It also featured Wo0dy Allen who played Jimmy Bond. No Jimmy does not count as James.

Actually, a plot point involves Niven naming all the spies James Bond to confuse the enemy so one could argue that those spies played by Terence Cooper, Joanna Pettet, Daliah Lavi, Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress also played James Bond.

The Burt Bachrach song, The Look of Love, comes from the movie. It was a hit and got an Oscar nomination.

If you really want to get technical stuntman Bob Simmons played Bond in the opening credits of the first few movies.

And yes, Barry Nelson played him in a 1954 television CBS special based on Casino Royale. Peter Lorre played his adversary, Le Chiffre.